Apparatuses for filling tubular cases are usually employed on filling machines for producing strings of sausages, by which a pasty material like sausage meat or the like is introduced into or put into tubular cases. The operation of introducing the pasty material into the tubular case can be conducted continuously or in portion-wise fashion so that the pasty material is introduced into the tubular case as an on-going procedure or cyclically. An artificial casing or a natural skin casing can be used as the tubular case. The term pasty material is used in the present case to denote a foodstuff material which is capable of flow and which can be transported by way of a tubular conduit. A dough material is also to be interpreted as the pasty material for example besides a meat or sausage material.
During the operation of filling the tubular case the case which has already been filled is divided up or twisted off at predetermined spacings so that separating locations are generated between the respectively filled case portions. The filled case thus has string portions which are separated from each other and which are of the same weight and preferably the same length. The string portions which are subdivided from each other are then usually separated from each other, thereby resulting in individual string portions which are referred as sausages and which for example are fed to a packaging machine for further processing.
To be able to fill the tubular case it is firstly to be pulled on to a filling tube of a filling apparatus, in which case the tubular case is gathered or shirred so that the gathered case which predominantly involves artificial casing, also referred to hereinafter as the gathered sausage skin casing, is shorter than the filling tube. The gathered cases can be of different diameters, also referred to as calibers. By a conveyor device which is preferably disposed upstream of the filling apparatus the pasty material is pressed through the filling tube into the tubular case which is closed at the end. By virtue of the material being introduced into the case the case is gradually pulled away from the open end of the filling tube and then the filling tube which for example is rotatable and drivable, together with the case which is still disposed thereon, is rotated about its longitudinal axis to produce the twisting-off location thereon.
For equipping a filling tube with a fresh tubular case, which is conducted using a casing gripping device or a casing loading unit, the empty filling tube is to be pivoted into a loading position. A filling tube which is fitted with a gathered case is in turn to be moved into a filling position. In the pivotal movement of the empty filling tube and the filling tube with the case thereon, it can easily start to oscillate to that the operation of applying a fresh gathered case by a casing gripping device or a casing loading unit or bringing the case which has already been fitted on the filling tube into contact with a casing braking unit, is made more difficult.
Such a casing braking unit holds the case taut when filling it with the pasty material, that being conducted by the filling tube moving with the case with its free end into the casing braking unit. If then the free end of the filling tube is not in central relationship with the casing braking unit, the front end of the case can buckle, or the filling tubes can suffer damage.
One example of a conventional device is shown in DE 20 2013 010 285, which discloses an apparatus for filling tubular cases of the above-indicated kind, having a support device arranged at the receiving portion for the filling tube and being coupled to a casing entrainment ring which is displaceable along the filling tube and which is in contact with the open end of the gathered case. The support device known from DE 20 2013 010 285 however only provides an adequate supporting action if the casing entrainment ring is disposed near the open end of the filling tube. That however is the case only when the filling tube is not fitted with a case thereon. If, however, the filling tube is carrying a gathered case, also referred to as the gathered sausage skin casing, the casing entrainment ring is in a position near the receiving portion for the filling tube. As a result, the open end of the filling tube in the case-carrying condition is almost free-floating. Upon the free case-carrying end of the filling tube being brought into contact with a casing braking unit, unintended contact between the two components can occur by virtue of non-alignment of the casing braking unit and the filling tube or by virtue of buckling of the gathered case.
With that background in mind, it would be desirable to provide an apparatus for filling tubular cases and a support device for a filling tube and a filling machine for producing sausages in such a way that, irrespective of whether the filling tube is or is not equipped with a case, the support action at the filling tube is improved to achieve enhanced process reliability during operation of the filling apparatus.